Chapter 6
The hangar is absolute chaos.
When we land, there are droids of all kinds running around and mechanics rush to our planes. Pilots finish up the last of their repairs as their astromechs fill up the fuel tanks of their planes. A huge tank of hydrogen is carried past us. Certain sections are locked down as people brace for the worst. I've seen some bad times on base but this is full on panic. We're greeted by Frewell and the raven-haired man Findley, who offers us all water bottles as we're ushered out of the hangar to where the General is waiting for us.
We're all in the command centre; Black Squadron, the General, the Head of Intelligence, Holdo, Frewell, Karé and her team and a bunch of other people I don't recognize. M'thar, the Head mechanic is also there. I'm standing with the Black Squadron members, beside Jess, who greeted me with a wink when I first entered but hasn't said a word since; Dameron stands with his back to us, addressing the whole of Command. It's all a first for me.
"You're saying Loish was suspicious of foul play? He thought he was being tracked?" The Head of Intelligence, a short, pale woman with spiky red hair asks Dameron.
"Yes, he got our mechanic to go over all the ship's systems to check for trackers." His manner is calm, direct. General Organa glances towards us. The room is silent as a graveyard.
"And you found none?"
"No, ma'am."
"And the intel we received about the Captain? Noug?"
"Even if he did know, he never gave us any indication of it. And if he is directly involved – "
"Loish isn't the kind of man to willingly aid the First Order". Dameron is cut off by Holdo. She stands up, moving towards him as she continues. "But, we can't rule anyone out. Have we received word from him yet?"
Dameron shakes his head. "No ma'am, but the estimated time of his arrival is ninety six minutes from now."
Finally General Organa speaks. "M'thar, are the planes being scanned?"
"As we speak," comes M'thar's nasal voice.
She runs her hand over her face. "If we're being tracked, there's no point making the jump to a new location. We have no choice but to wait." She looks at M'thar.
"As soon as the scanning is over, I want to know. Any malfunctions, any bugs, any discrepencies. We can't rule anything out." He nods, saluting her before rushing off to the hangar. She turns to face all of us.
"Dameron, I want eyes on Loish. Let me know when he's out of hyperspace."
He turns to the nervous, raven-haired man and nods. "Findley, you're in charge." The man hastily salutes the General and makes his way to the communications centre.
She turns to her Head of Intelligence next. "June –"
"On it," the woman replies immediately and leaves. The General looks at Holdo. Holdo nods.
"Alright, everyone back to your stations. We will send word soon. Stay alert." Holdo announces to the room and people slowly start to shuffle out. I turn around, along with the rest of the Black Squadron and we hesitantly begin to walk towards the exit when Leia says, "Oh no, not you lot." Dameron looks slightly embarrassed at that.
"You stay here in Command and give me a play by play of the entire mission." She turns to Dameron. "Let's start with the mechanic."
I'm midway through narrating the events of the mission to General Organa and Dameron when I start doubting myself. I'm trying to describe, as accurately as possible, the dungeon-like room I spent most of my time in, when I realize I don't remember the exact number of times I went over the entire plan for the Nebula 500. Was it twice, or three times? Did I zone out at times? I must have. Did I miss anything? What if I did and the First Order has found Loish and blasted them to smithereens by now. I try not to think about his sweet, small daughter and focus on the General instead.
"Was Captain Noug with you the whole time you were in the control room?" She speaks fast; she seems like she's losing patience with the whole thing.
"No, I was alone. He handed over the blueprints to me, and tried to give me an idea of the way things were arranged down there and left. He said he had to go supervise the others".
"And there was no chance of anyone slipping in and out of the room, unnoticed?"
"There was only one small door and it was open the entire time. It was cramped, with all kinds of stuff hanging around; there was no way I wouldn't have known if someone had entered." I look at her and then at Dameron. "Also, if someone wanted to remove something they had installed in there, they had plenty of time to do it before we arrived".
The General nods. She looks at Dameron. She does not look pleased.
"With all due respect, General, I know you're not entirely convinced, and I know there's a small chance I'm wrong and that I'm reading too much into it – " He begins, his hands emphasizing what he verbally cannot.
The General cuts him off. "A small chance? I know the intel makes the situation suspicious, but we have found nothing. No physical device by which they could find us". She's not dismissive or harsh; she talks almost as though to an equal. She's trying to reason with him. And maybe even herself.
"I know. I know and I'll be relieved if I am wrong. But I feel it in my gut. I felt it there. And I've trusted this instinct and it's kept me alive. You know what I'm talking about". He looks right at her and she almost looks convinced.
"The First Order has been trying to find us for years. We can't afford to take a chance". She addresses both of us now. "Alright Raza, you're dismissed. Next I want to talk to the person who shadowed Loish", and with that, she turns and walks away towards her office. The others are seated on the other side of the room along with Karé. I look at Dameron and he's staring at one of the navigation monitors, his mind clearly on other things.
Just as I'm walking away he calls out, "Where are you going?"
I turn around. "I gotta go report to my boss".
He looks confused so I add, "M'thar". He nods.
"Let me know if you find something".
"I will," I reply.
"Also," he looks at me with a hint of that infuriating smirk of his, "How does the General know your name?"
I should pretend to be offended at this; I could ask him why he thinks the General shouldn't be expected to know the name of a lowly mechanic, but I know he doesn't mean it like that.
"Long story", I say.
"Once we're out of this mess", he replies before making his way to the others.
"You went off-base! And you never informed any of us! You couldn't have left a message? Just when we were short on people, that too. Walda's cargo ship came up. She wanted a full-body update." M'thar pauses as he stops before a droid and transfers data from it onto his tablet. That bloody Jess. If only she'd told him. Or one of the other mechanics. I should've reminded her. And now I'm stuck, being scolded like a child as I follow my boss around the hangar. And Kala, he's relentless.
"Do you know what a headache it is, running this place?" He continues, unplugging his tab from the droid and walking ahead. I sigh in resignation. He doesn't hear me.
"If even one ship falls apart, it's on my head. One blaster doesn't work and I get pulled up. And all these new recruits, all they want to do is become pilots. And now the General wants me to scan these X-wings and I have to keep other ships ready, all weapons ready".
"I'm sorry, Sir, I should've told you – "
I try to interrupt, but he isn't even looking at me. We stop before Roshana's X-wing. An astromech comes up to us and beeps out something in binary. M'thar says "Alright," and the droid disappears underneath the plane. He turns to look at me.
"And some janitor came up to me, asking about you, saying something about morning shift", he says, his sing-song accent much more pronounced than usual.
"I am deeply sorry, Sir. It was a code red and we just left immediately, but I should've sent a message. It won't happen again." I try to look ashamed. He buys it.
"Next time, don't add to my troubles. Go find Desira, she's changing Karé's blasters".
Fortunately for me, Desira is nearly done by the time I get to Karé's ship.
I'm exhausted, and hungry and irritable and all I want to really do is go to my quarters and sleep. But I can't. So I sit and answer Desira's many questions about Commander Dameron. She wants to know what we talked about, what he carries with him on missions, what he's like when he's flying his plane and oh, did he mention anything about Vana?
I try to answer her as faithfully as I can without really giving her any details whatsoever. This is the first time we've actually talked, beyond what was required of us as colleagues. Which is mostly my fault; I'm not the friendliest person there is. Even now, my replies are short and discouraging, but she persists. I guess spending time with Dameron has suddenly made me a lot more interesting.
She walks with me to the canteen, narrating the story of how Vana, the Blue Squadron pilot and Dameron almost had a thing, and that Vana is still madly in love with him and everyone thinks that Dameron is too, he's just scared of commitment. Dameron doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd be afraid of commitment of all things, but I pretend to agree. I've heard too many stories of people Dameron almost had a thing with. I look up at the clock in the mess hall; twenty minutes until Loish is out of hyperspace.
I pick up some food and sit down at one of the tables. Desira brings us both a cup of coffee each. She eventually tires of Dameron and starts talking about other things. She tells me stories about people on base I've seen but never spoken to and people I've never heard or noticed. I'm reminded of my mother's disdain for gossip, but I don't mind it. It's really one of the only sources of entertainment on base. Besides alcohol and sabacc.
I'm actually starting to enjoy our conversation when Jess walks in with Dameron.
"I told you she'll be here," she says, pointing towards us. The place is nearly empty and her voice carries across. She comes over and plonks herself beside me.
"What were you guys laughing about?" asks Jess.
Dameron walks over with two cups of coffee and sits down beside Desira. She shoots me a look of mild panic. I wink at her. Dameron slides one of the cups over to Jess.
"This is all a fucking disaster. All this waiting, going over the same shit again and again. Getting chewed out by your boss. Kriffing stars. Give me a ship to blow up, any day," he mutters, before taking a sip.
Everyone sips on their coffee in silence.
"I got chewed out by my boss and my boss's boss. Beat that," I say.
Jess snorts into her cup. Dameron looks at me, a hint of a smile on his face. I feel that weird swoop in my stomach again.
"I can imagine M'thar going on and on with that voice of his," Jess begins, giggling, when a loud beeping breaks out. Dameron takes his pager out of his pocket.
"We gotta go," he says, standing up. Jess drains her coffee in one sip. Desira and I look at each other. Jess stands up. Dameron stares at me.
"What're you doing?" He blurts out.
Oh.
I hurriedly get up, say thanks to Desira and follow Jess and him out of the mess hall.
The Resistance has sent out a transmission to the Nebula 500. Command has fewer people than before, with most of the other Squadrons ready and waiting in the hangar for further instruction. The Head of Intelligence is also absent. All of Black Squadron is there though, with Holdo and Frewell. The General stands at the central communications panel.
"RV 1618 to Nebula GL8, come in. Over," Findley says into the comm for the second time. There is no response. It feels like everyone is holding their breath.
"RV 1618 to Nebula – "
"This is Nebula GL8 to RV 1618, do you copy," a smooth, female voice interrupts him.
"Copy. This is RV 1618. Have you made it to Zelca? Over."
Dameron and the General exchange a look. My pulse picks up.
"We're still four hours out. But we've entered the Yorne system and have established communication with Zelca. We're safe. Now, General Loish requests access to General Organa. Over."
I let out a breath. There's a click and a hologram of Loish is illuminated on the comm panel. He faces the General.
"General Loish, I'm glad to see you safe," she says, smiling.
"Thanks to the Resistance, my daughter and my crew are alive. I am indebted." General Loish bows. I wonder if he can see the whole room or only Leia. She smiles once again and is about to say something, but he cuts her off.
"However, I'm deeply sorry to tell you that you are in danger. You are being traced by the First Order as we speak. We caught our Captain attempting to send out an unauthorized transmission. He was contacting them. We have arrested him".
My stomach churns in dread. People start whispering, moving about. Dameron's face is unreadable.
Loish continues. "After much interrogation, he admitted that he informed on us. He planted a tracker on you."
"We have checked everything, none of our planes have anything on them – "
General Organa is cut off by him once again.
"It's a cloaked binary signal. He says he gave it to your mechanic".
Silence drops over the room like an anchor in the sea. Everyone single person turns around to look straight at me.